baby one more time : travis

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listening time: 3m 30s

this i gotta admit: rock star inxs is one of the few tv programs i come home in time to watch. when news came out last year that the living members of the band were going to do a reality show in search of a new vocalist, i was prepared to thrash it as soon as it aired. the idea of an american idol-type contest for a band i like didn't sit well with me. it turned out that rock star's format isn't far from its pop equivalent, but its contestants, for the most part, don't disappoint, since many of them already are professional musicians. last tuesday's show -- which inxs and co-host dave navarro assigned to be an acoustic night -- was probably the best so far, thanks in large part to two impressive performances: mig ayesa's baby i love your way piano solo, and marty casey's baby one more time.

which is why i'm posting this song. i'm not sure how well-known this version is -- it isn't on itunes music store, but other covers are, like that of fountains of wayne -- but i'm pretty sure this is where marty based his performance. this recording is live and you can hear the audience laughing and the band members facetiously backing up vocalist fran healy, but the band swears the song -- which appears in their sort-of greatest hits album singles -- isn't a tongue-in-cheek cover. "it's a fantastic song if you listen to the lyrics, you know?" drummer neil primrose told launch in 2000. "'my loneliness is killing me' -- all that stuff is pretty obsessive."

whatever. what i do know is that marty isn't right for inxs if they want to replace michael hutchence with someone of similar vocal style. marty is far too dark; i bet he's an alice in chains fan (i am!). plus, he doesn't have the charisma that hutchence had. in fact, none of the contestants do, save perhaps for j.d. fortune. in the end, i doubt the new band line-up will be a hit. but good luck. oh and as an afterthought, a friend asked me what's my favorite inxs song. i went overboard and gave him three, in order: suicide blonde, disappear, and not enough time.